


Prickly Thorn, but Sweetly Worn

by dod123



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, fairy tale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-12
Updated: 2013-01-12
Packaged: 2017-11-25 07:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/636387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dod123/pseuds/dod123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The thistle is a prickly flower<br/>Aye, but how sweetly is it worn</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prickly Thorn, but Sweetly Worn

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

Rose sighs and puts down her book. She walks to the window, leans out and looks down. _Way_ down.

The prince looks to be about the size of her pinky from how far up she is and he's a mostly mauve with a tiny glint of gold blob.

Rose sighs again, runs her hand through her short hair, and rolls her eyes. "That's not going to work!" she yells down to him.

"What did you say?" he yells back.

"What an idiot," Rose mutters, before yelling to him again. "It's not going to work."

“Why not?”

“Whoever you’ve been getting your information from has been lying to you. My hair only goes to my shoulders.”

“Well, how am I going to rescue you?”

“How should I know?” God, how do these princes keep finding her? “And to avoid further confusion, I don’t have any gold up here either!”

“What?”

“I said-”

“No, I mean, what do you have?”

Rose pauses to think. “I have several immensely intriguing books.”

The prince looks away, grumbling. Rose can almost make out the words ‘waste of time’ before the little red prince blob walks away to a larger more defined brownish blob at the edge of the clearing that you figure must be his horse. The red blob climbs on the brown blob and then disappears into the forest. 

Good riddance.

***

Later that week, Rose’s swaddled up in blankets reading her book again when she hears a thunk near her window followed by “Yo, Rapunzel, let down your dumbass hair.”

Rose leans out of her window, yelling, “Dave, you know that’s not how it works.” By the time she looks down he’s already started climbing.

It only takes Dave about three minutes to climb the forty meters up, and then Rose is half dragging Dave in through window by the back of his shirt. They fall back inside, twisted together, laughing, and as Rose disentangles herself Dave smiles openly. “God damn, it’s good to see you.”

“You could always come more often.” Rose offers as they move to the sitting chairs she has set up in the corner.

“Sorry, but I can’t. The older we get the more responsibility I have to John.”

“Yes. You always took your job too seriously. How is the heir, anyways?”

“He’s doing fine.”

“And his fiancee?”

“Vriska came last week. They’re getting married soon.”

“That’s nice. How’s your courting going?”

“Well, actually, that’s what I came here to talk to you about.”

“Oh?”

“I told you about Terezi once, right?”

“She was one of Jade’s ladies in waiting before Jade went off to try the Seven Dwarves shtick, correct?”

“Yep. So we’re engaged.”

“Wonderful. When is the wedding? You’ll have enough time to prepare, I assume.”

“Next month. Terezi’s family is handling it.”

“Perfect. I wouldn’t trust our mother with your wedding arrangements.”

“I’m gonna be busy though. I won’t really have time to visit before the wedding, and maybe not for a while after.”

“That’s understandable. From what you’ve said it sounds like Terezi will keep you busy.”

“Look, long-winded metaphor cut short, the only time I might see you for a while is at the wedding. You’ll come right?”

Rose studies her hands. “Dave. I would be honored but I haven’t been outside of my tower since I was three. My only visitors have been you, the few times you snuck Jade here, the annual visit with Mother, and those horrid suitors. Why do they all think my name is Rapunzel anyways?”

“I think John started that rumor a while ago, but I’m not sure about the bit with you having forty meter long hair. Seriously, who cares if you haven’t touched the ground for a while? You have to come, you’re my sister.”

“I’m sorry.” Rose loves her brother, she truly does. He’s really been her only connection to the outside world. But the outside world moved on while she stayed in her tower. “Bring me some pictures next time.”

“I’ll bring you so many pictures that it’ll flood your shitty tower.”

“Is there any other news?”

“Let me think. Jade’s dwarf get up worked. She’s marrying the second Prince of Prospit. God, what’s his name?”

“I believe you said that it was Karkat once.”

“Yeah, short and cranky. That’s him. Everyone’s getting married, pretty much. It’s like, hell, let’s see how many weddings the collective nobility can have in half a year!”

“So it would seem.”

“Rose, you gotta tell me something. Are you planning on ever getting out of this tower? When Mom put you here it was half a dumb joke. You can leave anytime you want. You don’t have to wait for the first guy smart enough to bring a grappling hook. I mean, if it wasn’t for the fact that you’re my sister and that shit’s just wrong, I’d bust you out of her myself.”

“Thank you for the sentiments, Dave, but to be frank, I actually don’t mind being here. If I really wanted to leave, I know how to myself. You think that I’ve spent thirteen years in here without the bare knowledge of how to escape if something goes wrong?”

“I dunno. I’ve never really thought about it. I suppose you must have a fire escape or some shit. Mom’s not that irresponsible.”

“Yeah.”

There’s a rare lull in the conversation, something that doesn’t happen often between Rose and Dave.

“Hey, are you alright?” Dave sounds genuinely concerned. Growing up, Rose watched him fall into his cold facade, every visit he was more distant and aloof, becoming more and more obsessed with irony. More and more similar to her mom.

“I’m going to miss you while you’re gone, Dave. There won’t be anyone to have an intelligent conversation with. Who else will I be able to talk about the possibility of extraterrestrial life and the differences in the gastrointestinal tracts of dragons? I fear I may have to lure some unexpecting Prince in, just to cure my boredom.”

“Jesus dick. Here I thought you might actually care for me, not just my A-1 mind.”

“Oh you know the only reason I let you come at all is because you make good eye candy.”

They spend the rest of the afternoon chatting and drinking tea, and when the air outside begins to cool and the sky begins to darken, Rose hugs him tightly, something she hasn’t done since they were young.

“Your wedding better be more beautiful than the Heir’s.” She smiles. “Or I won’t forgive you.”

“It damn well will be,” Dave says and laughs, just a little, deep and low. Then he’s out the window again. Rose leans out of the window after him.

“And don’t forget the goddamn pictures!”

***

A month passes and Dave does not come back. Rose does not worry, though she doesn’t know if he’s married to Terezi yet, or when their wedding will be if they aren’t. Rose drinks tea, and eats the canned food that her mom brings her once a year, but never runs out. Rose rereads her books. Psychology, mysteries, Westerns, pirate romances, horror. Dave’s threat of bringing enough photos to flood her tower is in vain because it’s already flooded with books. 

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!” Rose doesn’t recognize the voice. It isn’t Dave, who always says it ironically to piss her off, or her mother, who said it once at the beginning of yet another drunken visit, or even Jade, who had said it dispersed with giggles wondering if it might be a magic spell.

So it must be another goddamn suitor.

“I’m sorry but I sold my hair,” Rose screams down to him. He’s dressed mostly in purple, any other colors are too delicate to see. Rose isn’t sure why she said that. Mostly because she’s bored. If these idiots keep coming by, it’s only fair that she should get some entertainment from it.

“Why would you do that?” The suitor sounds exasperated.

“A fairy came.” Rose rolls her eyes. What hokey crap. Would anyone believe that?

“What did she offer you?” Apparently so.

“My one true desire.” God, where does this come from?

“What was it?” He sounds a little desperate. It appears that Dave was right about the vast majority of the world being incomprehensibly stupid. Her words, his sentiment.

Rose pauses. What would be strange enough to be funny to her, but not wildly unbelievable to the man below?

She thinks and then she has it.

“Her soul. I keep it in a jar. If you can figure out another way up here I’ll show it to you.”

“What the hell? Are you some kind of witch?” Rose watches as he turns tail and runs into the forest, presumably to a horse he’s hidden there. She laughs loudly, safe in her tower, but in the end it’s another man who’s disappeared leaving her feeling lonely and forgotten.

***

The grass is a relief on Rose’s bare feet. She shuffles them through the cool dew. Rose holds her slippers in her hands. They won’t do her any good outside her tower.

The glade her tower’s located in is mostly grass, but in the spring and summer there’s an abundance of dandelions. She picks one now, blows away the silvery seeds and watches them fly away. Then she makes her way to the edge of the clearing.

When Rose gets to the trees, she hesitates, turning back to look at her tower, then glancing around the glade to see if anyone else is there. Nope. She redirects her attention to back to the forest and takes off running.

The ground’s rough and uneven, but Rose has been sneaking out of her tower almost as long as she’s been living in it. She’s used to the ground and only trips over a root once.

Rose runs until she’s out of breath. She supposes she must be a mile away more or less, but only fifteen minutes to where she’s going if she jogs.

So she does.

The wishing well is not in a clearing, though it might have been once. So much time has passed with Rose as the only visitor that the brush and trees have grown close to it and the grass is weeds are up to her knees when she walks towards it.

“Hello again, old friend.” The wishing well has always been Rose’s most trusted companion. She could tell anything to Dave, not that she had much to say, but the well has always stayed in one place and she could count on it to.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around for a while.”

The well does not reply.

“You know, I’ve never made a wish on you.” Rose pauses for a bit to think. “I always thought that it was a one time only offer, and that I needed to wait until I knew exactly what I wanted or you’d disappear forever.”

“I should have made my wish back when I knew I wanted to be rescued.” Rose sighs.

“When I was younger I knew that a handsome, intelligent nobleman was going to rescue me and we were going to fall in love, ride back to his castle, and get married.”

“But everyone who tries to rescue me is an idiot.”

“And also gets my name wrong.”

“I mean, I still want to get married. I think.”

“God, I sound like an indecisive fool right now. I just don’t know what I want anymore. Do I want to leave the tower or do I want to live there for the rest of my life? Do I want to run off with some insufferable prick, or wait for Prince Charming, who might not exist?”

“I don’t want to stay in the tower, but I sure as hell don’t want to marry some douche just to end up as a trophy wife.”

“I apologize for being so whiny today.” Rose sighs again.

“It was good talking to you again.”

The walk home seems longer than the walk there.

***

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!”

Rose rolls over on her bed and ignores it.

***

“Rapunzel, Rapun-”

Rose doesn’t bother letting him finish and instead throws a small rock at him instead.

***

“Hey!” She’s not sure what makes this one different.

“Does someone live here?” He has a lisp. He hasn’t called her Rapunzel.

“Yes.”

“Well, do you need help or anything?” 

“I don’t know. Why don’t you talk to me a little bit before you try to whisk me off to your castle somewhere.”

“I don’t have a castle.”

“You don’t? Then why are you looking for a princess?”

“My parents kicked me out. You’re a princess?”

“No. I could’ve been. Schrodinger’s law of nobility and all.”

“You know it’s really hard to talk when you’re up there and I’m down here.”

“Why don’t try to rescue me then?”

“Oh, I’ll show you rescuing.” You lean out your window to see him trying in vain to scramble up the stone wall. 

Rose snickers to herself before you call out to him, “You can stop trying to rescue me. I’ll be right down.”

She runs down the spiral stairs. She’s not sure why she’s so interested in this man. Rose supposes that it might be because he’s not here for the fame and glory he’d receive from rescuing a damsel in distress. Because he didn’t listen closely enough to the rumors that she had mile long hair and her name was three syllables long. Because he only came because his parents forced him to.

Rose opens the door at the base of the tower, well hidden in the rocks and weedy bushes. She’s not surprised that none of the asses who’ve tried to rescue her before had noticed it.

The man, or rather boy, was tall and gangly, almost humorously. Rose snickered again. “You don’t look much like a knight.”

“I’m not a knight.”

“Then what are you? And why do you think that you can just run off with what could’ve been a princess?”

“My parents own a bit of land, though it’s mostly farming. And I only came because they suggested it.”

“Well, farmboy, do you have a name?”

“Sollux Captor.”

“Tholluxth Captor.”

“I’m not surprised no one’s rescued you yet.”

“Oh, and today I’m feeling quite civil, for a change. Rose Lalonde.” She lends him her hand to kiss. Rose may have grown up in solitude, but her books have taught her the proper procedure in meeting boys. (Those same books included nothing about throwing rocks at men.)

“Pleasure.” Sollux’s voice is laced with sarcasm as he bends to lightly press his lips to the back of her hand.

“So, Sollux, would you care to tell me why your parents were so keen on getting rid of you?”

“My older brother is the heir to their estate, and I didn’t try to make myself useful. They got sick of me studying the bees and gave me a list of girls I should try to find instead.”

“How far down the list was I?”

“Second. The first girl wasn’t home though there were a lot of angry dwarves.”

“She got married to a Prince.”

“Thank you for telling me, because I really care that much.”

Rose laughs. "If you had met her, you would. Would you like to come in for tea?”

“Sure, but if you’re really a witch or something, I’ll have you know that I have a sword.”

“Like you know how to use a sword,” scoffs Rose.

They go upstairs and drink tea and talk. About their families, and Sollux’s bees, and Rose nearly tells him about her wishing well but decides against it. Sollux says that somewhere on the list of girls was a dragon who needed slaying, and Rose asks to see the list. Sollux says it’s all in his head. She asks what else he has memorized. He recites the first fifteen figures in the Fibonacci spiral and asks if he should continue. 

No, it’s fine

Oh, okay

We should go kill the dragon

You must be out of your mind

Maybe

Rose lets Sollux stay the night. The share her bed and despite falling asleep on opposite sides, the wake up tangled together. She makes them breakfast.

“So how about that dragon?” She asks with a devious smile.

Sollux coughs and chokes on his coffee. “You were serious?”

“I don’t want to stay here anymore. And your family certainly isn’t offering me much. Let’s have an adventure.”

“How about I just get a reward for rescuing you?”

“I’m in this tower so I can marry up. No one’s going to give you a reward.”

Sollux thinks about it.

***

He stays for a week and then they leave together. Rose leaves a note.

_Dear Mother, Dave, or Whomever else this note finds,

I’ve left the tower. Don’t worry, I’ll turn up eventually, I have a knight. 

Love,  
Rose Lalonde

_

They go slay the dragon, and steal it’s gold, and they both get a kiss from the beautiful princess who was guarded by it. They run through the lands, are declared outlaws and bandits and thieves. They become the things of local legends, and in one far off country they become deities. They get married in a small chapel they find carved into a mountain. They fight gnomes, and trolls, and gargoyles. They sleep under the stars at night, and under the tree branches, and in cheap inns when they come to a city. They meet a ghost girl and a man who can lift three times his weight and a huntress who gives them fur cloaks one winter. Rose falls a little bit in love with a seamstress before they’re forced out of her town because of a small incident with a Bogart. Sollux almost drowns when he catches a mermaid’s eye, and Rose just barely pulls him out of her lagoon. They cross a desert and plunge through caves and caverns. Eventually Rose does see Dave and Terezi, before she and Sollux becomes dread pirates. They manage to annoy the hell out of both John and Karkat, though Jade loves to hear tales of their adventures and Vriska secretly longs to have one of her own.

Rose and Sollux leave her tower in a whirlwind and never slow down.

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to write Rose/Sollux. It didn't turn out as well as I had hoped but I figured I might as well put it up anyways.
> 
> Title from the White Stripes song of the same name.
> 
> 2/12/13: Minor edits made. I reread it and realized that I made a bunch of mistakes and how could you guys let me get away with it? Please tell me if I've left any other errors.


End file.
